Pitching and playing Short.... Not a good idea?

Wow.  Hard to believe that the athletic association would allow unlimited games for kids that young.  I cannot imagine that kind of schedule is good on young pitcher's arms.  My son's college team plays a 48 game regular season.  They have 15 POs.  I can't imagine that a HS JV team has remotely enough pitchers to compete in a 55 game schedule + any varsity games they may play in, to keep their players healthy.

Does this seem excessive to anyone else here?

Well I may have made it sound a little more harsh than it is.  48 games scheduled,  20 of those are 5 inning games.  but still plenty. 

I talked to 2013 and 2014 about what happened to players faced with a similiar situation when they were playing in HS for this coaching staff. They said  that they went on a week to week schedule.

For instance, if the varsity is playing in a tourney Wed-Sat... that 2018 would likely be with the varsity because they will need more pitching for the tourney and not wanting to throw the top upperclass man, basically holding the top rotaion back for district games.  They then said that if its light week with no tourney, then they don't need 2018 and he would spend that week with the jv...  This was their take anyway. They said that the week 2018 is with the varsity, he would have a week like a PO.  But if he is on the JV then it would be a position/player week.  They felt that he would not be flipping on a daily basis...

2013 also said that he feels from being around the coaches over winter break that if 2018 can hit at the varisty level by mid-season he would be varsity RF.

2013 went on to say that the HC feels 2018 has the physical for varsity, but the mental part is what they are concerned about, giving him early chances to see what happens. 

My next question to 2013 was "why did you not tell me this a month ago" and he said I don't know, HC and I were just talking.....BUT 2018 never mentioned this so maybe HC is spoon feeding him info on purpose.... Again I will jsut see what happens and as long as he is not over worked , all is good.

BTW , I'm in Fla watching college baseball  ....awesome.....

Originally Posted by Scotty83:

Tennessee's game limit is 30 although you can play more with tournaments since they only count as 3 games no matter how many you play. They state does not acknowledge JV I guess it's considered club ball or something of that nature so there are no rules for it.

Out here in the land of fruits and nuts there aren’t any rules about FR or JV ball either, but the same rules that apply to the V apply to all from what out section rep tells me. The major difference is, the level of penalties isn’t nearly as serere.

Bacdor,

This is good news.  Sounds like a much more workable situation. 

I'm a little late to the party on this one but I'll answer your question to coaches..

Realistically, the whole P/SS, as well as P/C combo issue can be a real tough situation to work through.  P, SS and C tend to be where you put your best players.  And, most often, they are your best both offensively and defensively.  When they are not on the field and in the lineup, you don't have your best team out there.  Pitch counts are easy to monitor objectively.  When combined with throws from position players, this becomes much more difficult.  Add in the different throwing motions, angles and exertion level, overall physical wear, practice reps, bullpens, etc.  Then, on top of this, you are dealing with a JV/V combo.  With some programs, I'm sure JV/V communication is very good.  I would be surprised if this were the norm.  Each coach is quite busy with his own team and again, putting the best out there is often top of mind.

This problem is alleviated a bit when a big school has depth at each position.  But most schools don't fall under that category. There is usually a significant gap in ability between your top two or three and your #10 and #11 guy.  And if you shuffle other players around to minimize the impact, again, you are weakening the team at each position of adjustment.

For me, this is another of those areas where it is correct for a parent and player to be concerned and want to know what plans are in place to protect the arm... even more so than for PO's.

And, yes, it's great to think our young 15 y.o. sons can take responsibility and handle these discussions with the coach, but this is an area where there is a conflict of interest.  We want the players to have a "where ever, when ever" attitude and have full respect for the coach's decisions but then have them question if there is a sufficient arm protection plan?  Just not that easy.  I understand any parents' concerns when dealing with this scenario.